#catherine webb

The wind off the sea blows away all doubts, it blows away the past and the smallness of this world, it tears open the sky the fields ripple like water; it blows away the tiny cramped-up prison bars that you built across your soul the wind is...

Theo isn't sure he has the words for what it is. It is a thing he cannot express. If he could express it, he might have to say what else the wind purges from his soul, and he can't imagine saying these things out loud would make anyone happy.

The Book Thief (Markus Zusak) "This book is narrated by death. Not a god of death, not some kind of herald of it, the abstract concept of death itself. And death permeates the entire story. The book begins with our protagonist, a young girl living smack-dab in the middle of Nazi Germany name Leisel Meminger watching her younger brother Werner die on their way to their new foster home, and it only gets worse from there. Leisel continually strives to save herself and others from the inevitable destruction and end that awaits them, predominantly, of course, by stealing books, but also eventually by harboring a Jewish man named Max Vandenburg, and it is consistently not enough. I'll spare you most of the details in the hopes of you reading it yourself, but the book ends with our protagonist's home being bombed and the deaths of her foster parents and the boy she loves. Leisel herself dies of old age decades later, and death's final words to her (and arguably to the readers themselves) are "I am haunted by humans"."

Mirror Dreams (Catherine Webb) "Every dream you've ever had, and every dream yet to come, exists in the Kingdoms of the Void. Every nightmare, too. Because there has to be balance; it's the rules. But the Lords of Nightkeep aren't big on rules; only Conquest, Fear, and Eternal Darkness for All. It takes a powerful wizard like Laenan Kite to keep them in check. But Kite has other worries, and Nightkeep is growing strong. Its Lords hunger for power. And they've turned their gaze towards earth." Dreams are extremely End-coded and this book takes place in the dreamland. Also certain revelations about one of the characters make this even more End related." Spoilers Below Cut

For Matthew Swift, today is not like any other day. It is the day on which he returns to life. Two years after his untimely death, Matthew Swift finds himself breathing once again, lying in bed in his London home. Except that it's no longer his bed, or his home. And the last time this sorcerer was seen alive, an unknown assailant had gouged a hole so deep in his chest that his death was irrefutable...despite his body never being found. He doesn't have long to mull over his resurrection though, or the changes that have been wrought upon him. His only concern now is vengeance. Vengeance upon his monstrous killer and vengeance upon the one who brought him back.